THE HUDSUCKER PROXY (1994) C widescreen 111m dir: Joel Coen

w/Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Newman, Charles Durning, John Mahoney, Jim True, William Cobbs, Bruce Campbell, Harry Bugin, John Seitz

From Variety's review of the film: "The Hudsucker Proxy is no doubt one of the most inspired and technically stunning pastiches of old Hollywood pictures ever to come out of the new Hollywood. But a pastiche this $40 million production remains, with a hole in the middle where some emotion and humanity should be. Hudsucker plays like a Frank Capra film with a Preston Sturges hero and dialog direction by Howard Hawks.

"Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), straight off the bus from Muncie, IN, lands a mailroom job at the enormous Hudsucker Industries just as the successful company's founder (Charles Durning) hits the pavement after pirouetting out of the boardroom's 44th-floor window.

"Norville is installed as the firm's president by the cigar-chomping Machiavellian executive Sidney J. Mussberger (Paul Newman), who intends to forestall a public takeover by lowering investor confidence. But Norville surprises one and all when, after having baffled everyone with the design of his brainstorm --- a simple circle on a piece of paper --- he pushes through on his invention 'for kids,' the Hula-Hoop.

"Plotwise, it's all been done before. But for connoisseurs of filmmaking style and technique, Hudsucker is a source of constant delight and occasional thrills. Throughout, [editor] Thom Noble's montage is on a par with just about any classic examples one could cite.

"With his gangly frame and appealing pie face, Robbins calls to mind Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart, but there's no authentic sweetness or strength. Partly for this reason, no rooting interest develops in the curious romance between Norville and tough-talking reporter Amy. Jennifer Jason Leigh skillfully plays the latter with a Katharine Hepburn accent, Rosalind Russell's rat-a-tat-tat speed in His Girl Friday and Barbara Stanwyck's attitude in a lot of things, but the character never seems quite right."

The screenplay was written by director Joel with his brother Ethan, who also produced the film.